'I feel like it's going to be a huge jump': Nearly a year after ACL injury, Bradley Chubb ready to return for Denver

[Miles]

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. —Three-hundred-and-fifty-one days after suffering a partially torn ACL against the Jacksonville Jaguars, Bradley Chubb will rejoin his teammates at Empower Field at Mile High on Monday and again take aim at an opposing quarterback.


The 2018 fifth-overall pick's second season was cut short — he recorded just one sack in the first four weeks of 2019 — and he's spent the last year working his way back. After an offseason of rehab, Chubb has reached that point. He had a brief scare in training camp as he missed a week of practice with what he called tendonitis, but the NC State product said he now feels better than at any point during the process.


As he tries to return to the standard he set during his rookie season — he recorded a franchise rookie record 12 sacks — Head Coach Vic Fangio can't help but be impressed by Chubb's work ethic.


"He's in a good spot I think," Fangio said Saturday. "He had a tremendous rehab from the day he started his rehab after his operation last year all the way up into training camp. Our trainers remarked they haven't had many guys that attacked his rehab and handled it the way he did emotionally. When we came back and got in training camp, he hit a pothole or two, which is to be expected. But he's in a good spot now. I'm sure once he starts playing, he won't be as good as he will be two, three, four weeks from now. I don't know when the exact time is you actually fully recover from those, and some of it's mentally, too. But he's in a good spot and I'm happy for him."


Chubb is still working his way all the way back to full health, and he said how much he plays against the Titans will depend on how his body feels. He said while he wants to be out there for every snap, he won't limit his team defensively.


"I want to be out there for all the plays that the defense has," Chubb said. "As a mature person, I have to understand that if I'm out there not feeling 100 percent, then we're playing with 10 guys and I don't want to be selfish. I want to put this team in the best position to win. Whenever I'm feeling good, I'm going to be out there. If I need to take a step back, I'm going to do that as well. As long as I'm out there, I'm going to put my best foot forward 100 percent and do it to the best of my ability."


When he is on the field, Chubb said he'll aim to let the game come to him and not overextend himself in the wake of Von Miller's injury. Neither the loss of Miller nor his in-progress recovery, though, will stop Chubb from setting high goals for himself in Week 1 and for the rest of th season.


"Each year, I'm trying to progress and become a better overall player," Chubb said. "I feel like I was doing well with the rushing and I had to work on the dropping. Last year, the sacks weren't coming, so I wanted to work my rushing and become an overall great player. You see guys making plays all over the field and changing games. That's something I want to do. I feel like the progression is going to be there year-to-year, and I spent a lot of time this offseason. I knew I was going to have to prove something when I got back, so I tried to do a lot of things and work on myself. I feel like it's going to be a huge jump from last year to this year."


The Broncos didn't record a sack until Week 4 last season, which coincidentally coincided with Chubb's injury. In his first football game in nearly a year, Chubb will try to help Denver get off to a much better start.